Our friends showed us a great time in the French Basque country. We started by waving our red scarfs in the air then we ran from Biarritz to Bayonne, we were dressed in red and white . . . it was la fête de Bayonne! Banjo joined in on the fun! We ate, we laughed, we enjoyed the company of a most charming 2-year-old, and best of all, we went body boarding (sort of) . . .
Body Boarding
I cling to my board
In the strange valley between ocean waves
Here I am waiting
Buoyant and lively
Attached by only a string
To a tiny pat of butter
In this enormous ocean sea pan
Stewing far off-shore
A ripple, a quake
Water pushing against water
Release of the moon’s hold
Cascades of hydropower
It’s Mother Nature’s bathtub
And she has jumped in, feet first
Covering her whole body with ocean mud
And on this I ride
Breathless and terrified
Awakened and free
In the beauty of the force of the sea
* * *
Only to be pushed into the surf
Furiously face first
Like a lone sock in an industrial-sized washing machine
Frozen Ocean Mom 